Monthly Archives: January 2006

Please pray for my friend, Lynn.Courageous, beautiful, serene.Smiley, joyful, realistic.So different from me,but we have the same Heavenly Father.And both of our earthly Daddies are recently home to Heaven.So much alike, too.We both love words and laughter and friends.We both love our homes and our families.I love Lem and Jess.She loves Jess and Lem.She prays for her daughter and my son.I pray for my son and her daughter.

Today, Dear Friend, you face an incomprehensible challenge.And my prayers can scarcely think of anything elsebesides an operating room at Johns Hopkins,And what is happening there.

Lord Jesus, in your Holy Name I prayFor an incredible anointing of power and healing.Guide the hands and thoughts of those who are operating or assisting.Hold Lynn’s family in the calm of your grace.May your eye that sees the sparrows keep watchful care of Lynn.May the evidence of YOU be so inescapableThat no one, NO ONE can ever saythat it was anything but you!

UPDATE!!!!LYNN CAME OUT OF SURGERYAT TWO O’CLOCK.THE BRAIN TUMOR WAS BENIGN!!!THE DOCTORS SAY THEY GOT IT ALL!!!HER FAMILY SAW HER.SHE KNEW THEM AND WAS MOVING AND TALKING.JESSICA SAID THAT SHE SEEMED REALLY, REALLY GOOD!THIS IS A GOOD TIME TO THANK GODFOR ALL HIS MERCIES TO US.

I’m so glad for the Papa and Mama whose guidance and example and home and genetic contributions have made you who you are. (Thanks, James and Karen!) I’m so glad for the love between you and Christina that brought you to our family. It has been such a special gift. We are so imperfect, often fail, and often don’t understand like we should (so unobservant!) but you have accepted us and shown respect even when we didn’t deserve it. Thank you! Thanks for a wonderful evening. It was a grand Birthday party, Christina! It is nice to come to your house.

Today has been challenging. I took Linda for her GYN appointment. There is something so wrong about holding down a blind, handicapped person so a doctor can do what must feel like such a violation to her. She has a noise that she makes when any medical procedure is going on that she doesn’t like. Ethel once said that it sounded like a wounded rabbit, and I haven’t been able to think of any other way to describe it. I hate to be participant to any of it, but I also hate to abandon her in her hour of need. And then she tested positive for hemo. So now she is going to need a colonoscopy. JOY of all JOYS. Yes, well. I brought her home to load a dishwasher, and get her some lunch. Then the two of us went out to Mama’s to take care of some bills and banking. Daddy always balanced the checkbook for Mama. I sat there and looked at his neat figures, and his distinct way of balancing the checkbook, and murmured against myself at my large numbers and my way of balancing a checkbook and felt inadequate against my mother’s loss. Her tears were so close today, and I felt like I had been the perpetuator when I inadvertently brought some pictures that I had printed out for my brother and they got mixed in a stack that I had brought for her. Clint had expressed an interest in a picture of Daddy and his brothers and I had another one that I thought was so good, so I printed them both and when Mama was leafing through Clint’s stack, she came unexpectedly upon them, and it was a jolt to an already fragile composure. She is so small since her surgery last April, and since Daddy died, she isn’t eating enough. I saw her standing by the table, tears streaming down her cheeks, and knew that nothing any of us could say or do would really make it better. Even my pain beside hers looks so piddly. . . When I am there, I feel his absence so much more, and it makes me realize what she lives with all the time. I talked to her today about how good it was that we had him so long. And I told her that it is hard to believe that someone who was so “Alive” right up to the end could be so “dead.” Now don’t go jumping to any quick responses here. I know he is more alive than he has ever been. I know that we shall see him again. I know that what we put into the ground was only his shell. So no one go telling me that I am not being spiritual or scriptural here. I’m not talking about his spirit or eternal life. The Daddy we knew, the body that we called “Daddy” and what embodied “Mark Yoder” to us — THAT body is dead. We shall never know it again as we have known it. That seems pretty final right now. And you know what? It’s hurting tonight. Anyhow, I needed to come home because Certain Man and I had an appointment with the accountant in Lewes. We had a good time together, even with my subdued state, (we even used a Cracker Barrel gift certificate for supper! That was cheap!) When we got home, I came across this picture of two of my favoritest young men. I thought about Christmas Eve, and how hard it was for us. But, as this picture depicts, it was not all gloom and sorrow. We had laughter and good memories and a sweet, sweet time together as a family. Bitter sweet? Yes, you really could say that. But as every day passes, I am more and more aware that this is what life is all about. The laughter and the tears, the grief and the grace, the living and the dying, all mixing together to make the fabric of what is human experience. And I am so glad that the ONE who is weaving the fabric sees the “right” side and He has a pattern and plan. I have often said that our lives are like a tapestry in the making. We see this side — with its knots and skips and “stray” threads, and we often feel the needle! But Someday, Some Glorious day, we are going to see the “other side” and it is all going to be beautiful. And what’s more, it’s going to make sense! What a Day that will be!

So, last night we got together at Loretta Miller’s house for a married ladies slumber-not party. What a hoot!!! We had nine ladies and we had time to pray for each other, time to play some games that made us laugh and laugh. And then each of us brought a snack that started with the same letter as our first name. What a wonderful spread that made! And then some of the ladies went home, and some stayed until after one o’clock. Then four of us that thought that we would spend the night stayed up and talked until almost four o’clock, and then I thought that I might just as well go home. I needed to get Linda up this morning and so I decided to spend the rest of the night at home. Then I thought I was running out of gas on the way home (I had been running on fumes for a day or so!) so I was most glad to enter my garage safely at home. I came upstairs and crawled into bed beside my husband and he never found out that I was home. I was too keyed up to sleep at first (doesn’t usually happen to me!) but then I got to sleep and didn’t want to wake up! I am just about dragging along at reverse today! Whew! Was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY!!!! Thanks Xanga girl “Gokum” That was really fun! And thanks, too, VIRGINIA! I love your house! And you are a wonderful hostess. It was just so comfy being there. And thanks to all who made the evening such a fun time. I loved it so very much!!!

It’s been a month since you went to Heaven. Sometimes it seems like years.
We’re trying hard to run the race, to be people you would be proud of.
They say it won’t always hurt this much, and I do believe it’s true,
But sometimes the need to see your face is overwhelming.
If I didn’t believe that we will see you again, I don’t know if I could stand this.
Thank God for the Hope of Heaven. Thank God for the faith you showed us.
Thank God for sweet, sweet comfortOn days when it seems like it’s been too long.

I shall see you, soon again, in the land of Life.
I shall hear your voice again, singing praises to King.
No more heartache, no more pain, you are HOME FREE!
And I’ll see you soon again in the land of LIFE.
Where there is peace, peace in His presence,
And Joy, evermore.
We will never more depart, never face one more good-by,
You are HOME. . .
I shall see you, soon again, in the land of Life.
I shall hear your voice again, singing praises to King.
No more heartache, no more pain, you are HOME FREE!
And I’ll see you soon again in the land of LIFE. (Pelle Karlesson)

This is a view of the village before we took it down. (In case you didn’t know, you can click on the picture, and it will make it bigger for you.) The little fellow in the front of it belongs to the “gracegiven” gal. His name is also Daniel, and he is almost three. His sister, Sarah, is four, and his Daddy and Mama are expecting a new little one in a few weeks. In this picture, he was busy waiting for the train to come around again. He would have been happy to stand there for hours, watching the train go ’round and ’round. One of the things that Certain Man has always practiced was making the village as “child friendly” as possible. He didn’t want the children to be destructive, of course, but he always has allowed them to touch if they were careful, and he loved to run the train for them. But now, that is over for another year. My family room seems to have expanded greatly! I can get to my windows again, and we can wind the cukoo clock on the back wall. These are things to be happy about!